S'porean investor embroiled in N. Sumatra protest

S'porean investor embroiled in N. Sumatra protest

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Merek

A landslide and a hotel development in a 200-hectare area
encroaching on conservation land have pushed the small town of
Merak into the spotlight.

A nationwide controversy emerged when the development of the
tourist resort by a Singaporean company caused a landslide that
washed away three hectares of paddy fields belonging to locals.

Several other villagers whose farmland was also affected by
the landslide have not yet received any compensation, prompting
them to protest.

Problems for the developer deepened when the North Sumatra
provincial administration discovered that part of the tourist
resort was in a protected forest and PT Merek Indah Lestari (PT
MIL) had not yet obtained an environmental impact certificate
(Amdal).

The administration asked the management to suspend development
activities until the land status was clarified but the management
has so far ignored the plea.

Several villagers in Kodon-kodon village, which is located on
an area lower than the tourist resort and facing Lake Toba, said
the empty land was theirs but say they have not yet received any
compensation from the company.

Company management has disclosed documents that purport to
show the company's official ownership of the land and said it
bought the land from the residents of three neighboring villages,
Kodon-kodon, Pangambantan and Tongging.

Other Kodon-kodon residents, meanwhile, have expressed
opposition to the ongoing development project, following the
recent landslide that washed away paddy fields and fish breeding
ponds.

"The creation of waterways and the development of a golf
course and other facilities on vulnerable land could trigger more
landslides and the flooding of villages on lower-lying land," a
villager, J. Simanjorang, told The Jakarta Post here recently.

Before the work started the infertile land on a barren rocky
mountainside land had remained undeveloped.

Monang Simanjorang, another resident of Kodon-kodon, and
Anthon Bahrul Alam Munthe, a resident of Pangambatan, said people
from the three villages had received compensation in 2000.

"The unpaid residents will receive what is their right
directly from the management, but they can no longer claim the
land as theirs because it has already been sold by the
Simanjorang family to the company," Monang said.

PT MIL president Mustika Akbar said his company had obtained
an investment permit from the Capital Investment Coordinating
Agency (BKPM) and the Karo regental administration to develop an
international-standard tourist resort.

"The Singaporean investor has allocated Rp 150 billion to
develop a nine-hole golf course, a five-star hotel with large
swimming pool, an interfaith religious park and a commercial
greenhouse.

"Beside being a source of income to the local administration,
the tourist resort will employ more than 1,000 people, to be
recruited from the subdistrict," he said.

He denied a report that part of the tourist resort was
included in the protected forest and the company was damaging the
environment, saying the forest land that had been used to
accommodate a hotel previously belonged to local people.

"The company is committed to preserving the environment by
developing a safari garden and an eight-hectare orange
plantation, and planting large trees around the resort's border
areas," he said.

Mustika said it was impossible to prevent landslides during
the rainy season. "The landslide came from the dredging of land
to create waterways inside the hilly resort," he said.

His company would continue with the development as it had
received the go-ahead from the local administration, he claimed.

Singaporean investor had become interested in the area because
of its natural beauty, with Lake Toba in the background.

"The tourist resort will be able to attract tourists from
Europe, Japan, the United States and ASEAN countries," he said.

North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin said he had asked PT
MIL to suspend the development project until his team had
completed its check on the proposed tourist resort's status and
boundaries.

"The project must be halted permanently if the area includes
the protected conservation area. My team, accompanied by
officials from the Tanah Karo regental administration, is still
at the site," he said.

North Sumatra Environmental Forum executive director Herwin
Nasution said the government had yet to revoke the investment
permit and order the management of PT Merek Indah Lestari to
suspend the project. The development was taking place in a
protected forest and impacted on the water catchment area in the
Toba highlands, which had to be maintained to supply water to
Lake Toba, he said.

"The government should form an independent team to investigate
the matter. PT MIL has also breached Law No. 41/1999, which
prohibits any human activities in protected forests and parks as
part of the tourist resort is being built in the protected
forest, which is home to numerous rare mammals," he said.

Jaya Arjuna, another environmental activist, said that in
accordance with the sustainable development concept, development
activities on environmentally important areas were tolerable as
long as they did not cause environmental degradation and used
environmentally friendly technology.